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Case Study

Midwest Barrel Co.​

Midwest Barrel Co. is a family-owned and operated barrel broker based out of Louisville, Kentucky. The business specializes in selling barrels that are designed to enhance the flavors of beer, wine, and spirits. As MWBC's business was booming, they turned to Oh Hello in 2021 to help elevate their brand to match their culture and offerings. They were eager to enhance their online shopping experience to streamline their growth and cater to their customer's needs.

Challenge

Oh Hello had previously designed and developed the last website for this brand with a spicy, bold take that helped establish their identity in the market. However, now that the brand had evolved, we needed to come up with fresh ideas and approach the redesign from a new perspective that would connect with their current target audience. Additionally, we were working with the MWBC team to make the big move from WordPress to Shopify. This meant approaching design with specific development limitations in mind and working closely with our partner agency to ensure that what we were designing could be successfully developed without any hiccups.

Solution

Oh Hello Agency took on the challenge of transforming Midwest Barrel Co’s online presence into a dynamic digital experience. Working hand-in-hand with the MWBC team, we tackled the project from every angle. Starting with content strategy and copy collaboration, we moved into creating, stylescapes, wireframes, and high-fidelity mocks, resulting in a design that perfectly matched MWBC’s brand and goals. To top it off, we partnered with a top-tier Shopify agency to ensure seamless development and quality assurance. The end result was a custom e-commerce platform that helped MWBC streamline operations, boost sales, and stand out in the competitive market.

Step 01

Stylescape

Throughout the design process, we crafted 3-4 unique stylescapes that catered to MWBC’s diverse target audiences and effectively conveyed their brand story. We strived to balance their classic farmhouse style with a modern twist, while keeping their edginess intact to remain true to their roots.

Step 02

Wireframes

After getting a sign-off on our design direction, we moved on to creating wireframes that served as the basis for future design. In addition to wireframes, we also conducted thorough content strategy sessions to ensure that the website effectively communicated MWBC’s unique offerings to various customer personas. The absence of color, images, and any graphical elements in the wireframes helped to concentrate on the page as a whole, its layout, and content without being distracted.

Step 03

Design

Oh Hello set out to design a brand that not only popped visually for users but also paid homage to Midwest Barrel Co’s roots in the heartland, using design elements that reflected the brand’s gritty, entrepreneurial start.

Oh Hello Agency custom-designed high-fidelity mockups that perfectly captured the brand’s personality.

We also collaborated with the marketing team at Midwest Barrel Co. to ensure the final product perfectly aligned with their vision.

Step 04

Development

We partnered with a Shopify agency to further develop the site and ensure the design was maintained throughout the process, while also partnering with two Shopify teams on quality assurance to ensure that design elements remained consistent during development.

Result

This was a true partnership with Midwest Barrel Co. and Oh Hello Agency working together to launch a top-tier website that successfully speaks to a wide range of audiences and is unmistakable in the industry. Our alignment with their team allowed us to not only design a website that visually stands out in the industry but also saves countless hours on the operations side. Critical information was placed on the website in easy access places to ensure customer inquiries or questions were minimized, resulting in a streamlined user experience.

Impact

Since the launch of their new website, Midwest Barrel Co. has experienced significant growth in online sales and continues to expand year over year, with their website serving as a strong and reliable digital infrastructure for their business.